


Reprieve

by teamheadkick



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28196712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teamheadkick/pseuds/teamheadkick
Summary: Georgiou fakes Detmer's death and inducts her into the Terran Empire's Section 31.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	Reprieve

She thrashes. Even unconscious, she finds no peace. The dagger thrust into her gut. No warning, no mercy. The anguished gasp: _'Captain!'_ Pain, confusion, despair... darkness overtaking her just as she feels the insignia torn from her uniform. 

She stirs. Flinches. Bright light burns through closed eyelids. Still, she forces them open, straining to focus on the figure coming into view. A stern face, hard eyes, gold chestplate, and sable cloak. She starts awake, realising whose eyes are boring into her. She struggles to stand and salute, but a firm hand holds her down.

'Michael always did say you were a survivor, Commander Detmer.'

Her head still swims, but the reflex-word is too ingrained to escape her even in her addled state. 'Emperor...'

Confusion again. She shrinks away. 'I should be dead... for treason...'

That sharp, unyielding tone. 'Yes. Imperial law dictates you should be dead. As far as everyone outside this room is concerned, you are.'

The emperor leans in, eyes inches from her face. 'But _I_ am the law. And _I_ say you shall live.'

Anticipating her question, the emperor continues. 'Because I know who you are, Detmer. Not only because of your service record, but also because of Owosekun. Your endearment towards her has not escaped me; certainly you should have realised it went both ways?'

She's still perplexed. She's still alive when so many of Lorca's followers are dead - many by her own hand. A twinge of something... _no_. Terrans do not feel remorse. She must not be weak. 

'Years of faithful service to your captains, and not a single promotion by challenging your superiors to combat.'

Her sovereign scrolls through a PADD, continuing to read somewhat disinterestedly. _She's been over my file before_. '... if anything, you've fended off multiple challenges...' A brow arches. '... without killing anyone. Certainly, you beat them all to within an inch of their lives; I'd expect nothing less of my officers. But why let them live when they disputed your authority?'

She blinks, forcing herself to look her liege in the eye. 'Your majesty... if I may be so bold...'

She fights for coherence, knowing her life may depend on her answer. '... those officers would've been no good to the Empire dead. I gave each of them a good scar - or two, or more - so they'd remember it.'

The emperor continues her interrogation, evidently unmoved. 'The Denobulans. They refused our demands for submission. Why did you not advise your previous captain to obliterate their cities from space?'

'Again, emperor, Denobula is a prosperous world. We would have lost valuable slaves and riches. The Empire has no use for a lifeless cinder. So we bombarded an uninhabited island just off the Denobulan capital, awed their High Council as they watched an entire subcontinent disappear. They capitulated. Quickly.' Her voice quavers as she seeks to balance resolve with deference, to avoid both wavering and defiance. For good measure, she hastens to add: 'If that failed, we would've abducted the High Councillors' children, and broadcast their screams from the agonisers to the entire planet.'

She does not mention that this is how far she will go to avoid genocide. She will not relive memories of Düsseldorf's rebellion and destruction. Before the rebellion, she'd never even known her father, lost with his ship to a freak ion storm. After the rebellion, she never saw her mother again. The Empire was magnanimous - its Imperial Starfleet had taken her in after she lost her home and her parents. At least, that's what they'd taught her.

Her attention drifts back to the emperor, still mulling her responses with half-closed eyes and furrowed brow. Surely no Terran emperor would condone a record like that. She wonders if her reprieve will be short-lived. Knowing this is not in her hands is cold comfort.

The suspense is cut blessedly short. The emperor renders judgement.

'I was right to let you live.'

This time it is her turn to crease her brow, but the emperor continues unflappably. 'Power must be wielded intelligently. Terror can be an effective tool, but it is just that - a tool. And it need not be the only or most appropriate tool. Our people have confused means with ends.'

The emperor, percipient as ever, notices her confusion. 'You're still wondering why I decided to grant you this reprieve at all. You made up my mind when you visited Michael in her cell, knowing full well I was watching. Very few Terrans can display that sort of affection and concern so openly and sincerely. Yet that sensibility complements, rather than detracts from, your Terran ruthlessness. In short, you are what our people can and should become.'

'But my treason...'

'You have no love for Lorca yourself; his methods and views are the antithesis of yours. You disagreed with Michael's choice to align herself with him. Yet you remained loyal to her.'

Before her surprise - and relief - sink in too deep, though, the emperor's tone hardens. 'But know this, commander: above all, you owe your allegiance to _me_. Your life became mine the moment Owosekun's troops dragged your body out of my ready room - and rushed you into stasis under my express orders.'

Her sovereign sighs - almost imperceptibly beneath Terran hardness. 'My eyes see all. My ears hear all. But there are places even an emperor cannot go. Places where I will send you. You belong to Section 31.'

She is taken aback by her emperor's renewed trust in her. She must learn how to requite it. 'Forgive me if I overstep, emperor, but... what is my mission?'

The emperor smiles. She's never seen this before. 'Your former friends mutter that I am weak. Now that I've spared Michael, they clamour ever more loudly for my demise.'

The emperor is now eye to eye with her. 'So while I live, you shall be my eyes and ears. Should I fall, you shall be my hand of vengeance. Marshal my loyalists, root out the traitors, and complete my reforms. I trust you will never fail me again, Commander Keyla Detmer.'

She rises and bends the knee, fist over chest. The emperor's will is her own.


End file.
